Picked mine up today. Date of test firing for the enclosed casing was 8-10-2011, so they are currently being shipped. Ordered mine through firearms distributor Sports South last Saturday and as of today they are still listed as being in stock. Anyone who wants a 625JM, get on the Sports South web site, locate a local dealer rep, order it up and you'll have it in less than a week.

Now for the good, bad, and ugly on first inspection.

First, the barrel is mounted slightly over-rotated as seems common with recent production. I'll test shoot it this weekend and see how well it shoots with the rear sight centered and how much it has to be shifted to zero the sighting. If it doesn't take much to dial it in at 25 yards I consider it a non issue.

A second more concerning issue was the B/C gap. On the port side it checked at 0.004 inch and on starboard it was 0.0025 inch. That would be an issue with enough rounds downrange, so I got out my diamond lap and squared up the rear of the barrel. Now that gap is between 0.005 and 0.006 inch, meaning a 0.005 shims slides in freely and a 0.006 shim won't fit. Only took about 1/2 hour, gotta love diamond cutting tools. IMO a gap this tight should not have gotten past QC, however my local dealer stated that S&W is currently flogged by some military contracts so they've probably thinned out inspection in other areas, meaning they've pulled inspectors from the revolver production. My dealer reported that this contract will tie up personel into this coming December, so I expect we'll be seeing some complaints about Quality falling off. Aint great news but at least S&W is very responsive about fixing the clunkers that get out. However since it was tight it was easy to correct, so I'd rather have it too tight than too loose.

Thats the ugly part of the news. Now for the good.

This matte finish is really rather appealing, however I'm curious to see how it holds up in use. If it tends to get patchy I'll probably give the gun a full polish. I'm also liking the god bead front sight, it doesn't take much light at all to make it visible. IMO that good bead may be the answer I've been looking for when shooting at an indoor range.

More good news is the timing is flat out perfect on every single chamber and it's got the tightest lockup of any new S&W I've ever handled. The barrel crown is also perfectly centered. All this bodes well for it producing great accuracy.

Cylinder measurements using American Eagle 230 gn. FMJ. With a 0.039 inch thick moon clip the case head to cylinder measurement is 0.088 inch. With a loose round headspacing off the case the same dimension measures 0.072 inch. BTW, case length for this ammo measures 0.895 inch, just 0.003 inch under the 0.898 specification. End results is the headspacing is 0.013 inch deep for a perfect length case. If the tolerance for case length is +/-0.010 inch, this depth is probably a good compromise to insure rounds with a long case don't rub on the recoil shield. BTW, finishing in the chambers was absolutely perfect, absolutely no machining marks at all. Actually the finish was so good that I wonder if they aren't now using the ECM process on the cylinders because there are absolutely no machining marks at all.

Now for the trigger. Flat out do NOT like serrated service width triggers. Knew it had that when I ordered it and have a smooth MIM case colored target trigger that I had ordered from Numrich's. It won't match the hammer, may give S&W a call and see if I can purchase a case colored MIM hammer to match.

The grip is also a no go for me. Too small and I'm not a fan of smooth wood grips. I also find the coler of the wood rather bland, almost looks like Ash instead of Walnut. Fit to the grip frame also isn't perfect, there is a gap on the starboard side that will allow a 0.012 shim to start and a 0.007 shim to fully insert into that gap. Have the 500 Magnum monogrip coming Monday so the wood grip will go into the grip stash.

One item I will definately be purchasing is a moon clip loader. Loading up 16 clips was just about all my thumbs could take, these are NOT the easy peasy moon clips for the 610. Already have a demooner I made up after work last night, basically a T handled copy of the screwdriver types and it works slicker than snot. With luck it'll also work for my 610.

Finally, measurements of trigger weights for those who may be curious. The DA trigger pulll measures at 11 lbs. 8 ounces with my Lyman digital trigger gage. The SA trigger is 4 lbs. 6 ounces. Like other recent N frames I've handled or owned, there was nearly zero staging in the trigger, so I expect it will clean up to be absolutely superb with a bit of tuning.

Both of these will change this weekend. I had ordered some Cylinder and Slide firing pins and they arrived Wednesday. For those who are curious, both firing pins recieved measured at 0.510 inch. The travel slot for the retaining pin is also 0.045 inch longer than the standard factory firing pins from my 610 and 620 that were replaced, BTW length on those measured at 0.478 and 0.481 inch. Because these firing pins are so long, I intend to test for function with the DA trigger set to 8 lbs. 0 ounces or as close as I can get with the strain screw shims I have on hand. I'll also drop in a 14 lbs rebound spring to reduce the SA trigger pull to the 3 lbs. range. Warning to those considering the C&S firing pins, these new pins are long enough that a pierced primer is a distinct possiblity if you don't lighten the trigger pull first, DO NOT install these pins in any revolver with the factory spring setup. If you stick a firing pin in the primer it won't be easy to get it free.

As you can see, I didn't pull any punches and the example I received wasn't perfect. However the only issue that caused immediate concern was the B/C gap and I had the skills and tools to correct it pretty quickly. What really impressed me was the condition of the chambers in the cylinder, that finish is so good it looks like a computer model. I'm also imressed with the timing, I tried as hard as possible to get it to miss time with a super slow LEFT handed trigger stroke and the stop dropped in every time. Then there is the lockup, I have never in my life handled a S&W with a lockup this tight, at most there is only about 0.004-5 inch of total wiggle. Bottomline, on balance it's an exceptionally well made revolver but it did have some issues.